Murphy's Newsletter, April 9, 2001

Murphy's Newsletter
October 2006 - Part 2

So as promised this update features all the "inside" stuff Murphy has gotten up to over the course of the last few months. This update will be a lot more sedate than the previous one, as "inside" to Murphy means "lounge":

One night I head this weird scratching sound coming from the bathroom. Here's what I found:

Note the darkness and the startled look on his face. I'd caught him mid-creation of a "nest", which he will gladly make out of anything from a blanket, to a towel, to a pair of jeans, to, apparently, a bath mat. This was not a one time occurrence:

I can't remember if this was later that same night, or a completely different day. This now goes on at least once a week, despite him having a crate, a bed, my bed, the couch, the love seat and his $500 luxury bench (ie. my window seat). Sometimes he'll lie down on it:

Other times I'll just find a newly created dog-nest:

Above we have Murphy arriving to say; "What are you talking about? I had nothing to do with *that*!"

But he'd far rather be in the bathroom to explain a newly discovered nest than to actually have a bath, though in the following picture he does look to be smiling:

Really he's just panting because he's stressed. But this was after a long walk at Hunter Park, where he insists on going for swims...repeatedly.

Here are a few other pictures I've taken of him recently:

The one above shows him in Murphy-nirvana, as to him you can never have too many pillows. I was cleaning around the window seat, so I'd stacked all the pillows on the couch. It took Murphy a split second to climb on top. Below we have Murphy all splayed out on my fancy cushions, which I've come to accept. It's our agreed upon middle ground, as it's that or him sleeping on the back of the couch, squishing the couch cushions down permanently.

In that picture above he looks so calm, so perfectly posed. But the photo below tells the truth:

The moment I stop saying "Murphy stay, Murphy stay" he's up and waggling, demanding a cookie for being such a good subject.

You might also wonder what Murphy does while I'm doing these updates. Precisely as I type this Murphy is doing this:

My protector!

Now I know I covered Murphy's 6th birthday 2 updates ago, but I did end up getting him a late gift. He's decided he doesn't like dog toys anymore. Maybe because I keep bringing through stuffed animals for the various babies who have been arriving the last couple of years, Murphy has decided he prefers baby toys. He likes how they crinkle or rattle, a la Patches, his all time favourite. I'd been searching like a crazy woman for a rattly toy, without long fur or hair (Murphy would pull it out and eat it) and without any beans (Murphy would pull them out and eat them). I'd gone all over Vancouver, Bellingham and Seattle maniacally shaking every stuffed toy I spotted. With surprisingly little luck. Who'd have thought they'd stopped making baby toys that rattle? I finally found this one at a gift shop at a mall just a few kilometers from home:

How cute is this long eared puppy? The store owners thought I was insane when I told them what I was looking for (they of course thought I was shopping for a baby) but they found this perfect stuffy for him, so it was worth the quizzical looks. Murphy instinctively knew it was for him and tried desperately to get to him:

But I made him wait and behave, before giving it to him:

Check out the desperation in those eyes. I'm so evil to make him wait! It's practically doggie torture. Be sure to report me to the humane society.

Murphy of course took a liking to puppy (whose name I haven't come up with yet):

And will sometimes even chose puppy over Patches:

The one really exciting thing Murphy did this fall was visit Allie and Jason's new house in Poulsbo, Washington. My mother, Allie and I went down to Texas for the baby shower that her mother-in-law Anne, aunt Janet and sister-in-law Kasey threw for her. My father took that time to go help Jason out with some of the renovations. Murphy of course wasn't about to stay home by himself all weekend, and boarding him wasn't appealing to any of use, so my father gladly packed him up and took him down to Washington State with him for a "Boy's Weekend". Here's what happened:

I assume that's the linoleum in their kitchen. When I returned from Texas my Dad apologized, saying he couldn't figure out how to work work my camera. I turned the camera on and found the above shot! So he'd managed to photograph *something*, and it does prove that Murphy was there with them, it just doesn't tell us much about what they were doing! In my dad's defense, my camera has since them started to act up, turning on and off whenever the hell it pleases. So maybe it wasn't my Dad so much as the camera. Or was it my Dad who caused this???

Seriously, he took my dog across an international border, onto a ferry, to a house that was under renovation, took care of him for 3 days while he and Jason painted from sun up to sun down, then hauled him back on to the ferry (oh, and Murphy pooped on the ferry car deck *both* times) and back to Seattle to meet me at the airport. How could I complain about that?

Sweet freedom, I'm all caught up on all Murphy's pictures from the last 4 months!

Email me!

Meghan

Here's the link to the next update: November 2006
Here's the link to the previous update: October Part 1